This invention relates generally to firearms and more particularly to attachments which tailor the firearm to particular uses.
The use of automatic and semi-automatic rifles is commonly known to be prevalent with military, law enforcement and security forces, as well as civilian collectors, sportsmen and competitive marksmen. One such prolific design is the family of rifles based on the U.S. Military M16 rifle, including the M4 carbine, the civilian AR15, and the larger AR10 and all improvements, modifications and variations of these. Any of these rifles can be further adapted for single shot action. Variations of these rifles are found in numerous military, commercial and experimental calibers.
While there are many conventional firearms that have an integral mounting rail and hand guard, the M16/AR15 family of rifles uses a distinctly separate mounting rail and hand guard assembly. The conventional mounting rail mounts by tabs to the lower receiver, the rifle's barrel mounts to the mounting rail and the conventional hand guards mount to the barrel. This arrangement places the hand guard mounted to the barrel and in contact with the rifle barrel, which is detrimental to accuracy. This method also does not provide for solid mounting or consistent positioning of peripheral devices mounted to the hand guard.
Earlier developments have provided improved hand guard systems that utilize replacement hand guard assemblies that attach by clamping, screwing or slipping over a standard or proprietary barrel nut, clamping to the front or rear sight mounting platforms, or both. These hand guard systems often include multiple rails for attachment of peripheral devices. More current developments have provided monolithic receiver and hand guard platforms, these efforts are manufactured from a solid, homogeneous piece of stock. This manufacturing technique requires the use of a proprietary barrel and does not allow for the use of standard M16/AR15 barrels.
It is clear from the foregoing that there is a need for a more versatile firearm.